Docomomo US has shared the information that Geller Home I, a massively influential early residential venture of Marcel Breuer in Lawrence, New York, is gone. It was “demolished in a single day,” apparently to make means for brand new residential growth in a Queens-abutting swath of Lengthy Island “the place property values have skyrocketed and the dimensions of newly constructed homes dwarfs the extra modest scale of this early trendy dwelling,” in keeping with the stateside arm of the worldwide nonprofit devoted to the documentation and conservation of modernist structure and design.
Whereas the destruction of any vital modernist constructing is saddening, the lack of Breuer’s Geller Home I significantly stings. As Docomomo US president Liz Waytkus elaborated in a information merchandise penned simply earlier than turning into conscious that the construction had been razed, the group had not too long ago fashioned a coalition with to “work for a greater preservation end result” for Geller Home I after studying late final 12 months of its potential endangerment. Becoming a member of Docomomo US on the coalition was the group’s New York/Tri-State chapter, the Preservation League of New York State, Preservation Lengthy Island, and writer/advocate Caroline Rob Zaleski. Set on a 1-acre lot, the three-bedroom dwelling situated at 175 Ocean Avenue in Lawrence (a village throughout the City of Hempstead) final bought for $975,000 in August 2020.
In an e-mail to AN, Waytkus emphasised the coalition’s frustration and famous that the group had been “working across the clock to cease this from taking place.” The demolition of the house, whereas all the time a threat, additionally got here as one thing of a shock. Waytkus relayed that she had not too long ago been involved with the present house owners of the property and that they’d referred to Breuer’s work as a “masterpiece” and informed her they’d “no plan to do something with the home for the subsequent few years.”
Per Docomomo US, Geller Home I used to be “possible” eligible for inclusion on the eligible on the Nationwide Register of Historic Locations as a contributing web site to the Rockaway Hunt Historic District and in addition individually eligible on the Nationwide Register and New York State Register. The house was additionally possible eligible for native landmark designation throughout the City of Hempstead. An software searching for landmark standing was submitted to city officers final December and was “enthusiastically obtained and supported” by the Hempstead Landmarks Preservation Fee. As famous by Docomomo, the Village of Lawrence doesn’t have a preservation ordinance.
Designed by Breuer for Bertram and Phyllis Geller and their three sons, Geller Home I used to be, upon its completion, an instantaneous darling of architectural journals and shelter magazines of the period, showing in devoted spreads and profiles in quite a few home and worldwide publications together with, maybe most notably, Home & Backyard. The success of the Geller Home led the Museum of Fashionable Artwork to fee the Hungarian-born architect and furnishings designer for The Home within the Museum Backyard, a 1949 exhibition home positioned throughout the museum’s courtyard. Presenting a radical-at-the-time (but monetary attainable) reimagining of the standard American household dwelling, the exhibition drew over 70,000 guests throughout its several-month run at MoMA.
“It actually put him on the map,” Waytkus informed AN of Geller Home I, which was Breuer’s first residential fee after ending his skilled partnership with mentor and fellow Harvard Graduate College of Design professor, Walter Gropius. The venture additionally prompted Breuer’s transfer from Massachusetts to New York Metropolis the place he established an impartial architectural follow—and the remaining is historical past. The butterfly-roofed Geller Home was additionally Breuer’s first accomplished “binuclear” home with a ground plan providing a dramatic departure from conventional bungalow design: public areas and sleeping quarters contained inside two separate wings and divided by a proper entrance corridor. As soon as established in New York, Breuer took on quite a few residential commissions all through the mid-Twentieth century, most of them in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. (His New England houses—and the shoppers he designed them for—had been the topic of the 2021 e-book Breuer’s Bohemia, written by James Crump and printed by the Monacelli Press.)
And, sure, there’s certainly a Geller Home II and, sure, it’s nonetheless very a lot standing. Accomplished in 1969, that dwelling can be situated in Lawrence and, as Waytkus informed AN, has been not too long ago bought to a different developer. Waytkus stated she has spoken on to the proprietor of Geller Home II and that they expressed a keenness for Breuer’s design—most vital, it was relayed to her that they don’t intend to knock down the house. Waytkus, nonetheless, is cautious given the shock demolition of Geller Home I.
“What’s it going to take to avoid wasting Geller II? I don’t know however we’re going to proceed to do the whole lot in our energy to avoid wasting that one,” she stated.
This can be a breaking story and AN will present additional updates and insights as we study extra.
